Rosalie Kunoth-Monks OAM (1937-2022), Arrernte and Anmatjere woman and activist, was born on Utopia Station in the Northern Territory. Aged sixteen, she was cast in the lead role of the film Jedda, but the experience was largely negative, and at twenty she joined the Community of the Holy Name, an Anglican order of nuns in Melbourne. With the order's blessing, she left in 1967 to undertake community work with Aboriginal people. She was involved in various initiatives with the Department of Aboriginal Affairs before returning to the Northern Territory where she was active in politics, social work and environmental causes. In 1979, she sought election to the Legislative Assembly to fight the proposed construction of a dam which threatened sacred land. Having moved back to Utopia in 2008, she became a prominent spokesperson for First Nations peoples and human rights, addressing the UN's Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2010 and speaking out on issues including the Northern Territory Intervention and Aboriginal deaths in custody. She was the Northern Territory Australian of the Year and the NAIDOC Person of the Year for 2015.
This portrait by Melbourne-born painter and engraver Donald Cameron shows Kunoth in 1967, painted after the Cameron family returned from living in the United Kingdom.
Gift of Audrey Cameron in memory of the artist Donald Cameron 2022
© Estate of Donald Cameron
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